Latest EVP
The weather is getting colder, and it’s time to get the garden ready for winter. A friend gave us this lemongrass plant that I’m going to keep indoors. I filmed it and a spirt voice said “Lemon grass”. It is so loud and clear!
I haven’t had time for much EVP lately. But I hope to get back to it again soon.
\
Art that I’m working on
Now that I am spending more time indoors, I am working on my art. There is a lot that I want to do. But time is so fleeting. I even have things I want to put in my Etsy shop, but they are on the back burner at the moment. I have to manage my time better. I feel like I am saying that all the time. But it just feels like time slips away.
Below is an artist proof of a piece I did recently.
A tribute to my friend During the summer, a dear friend of mine passed away suddenly. She had developed breast cancer. I met her in 2018, and sadly, the timezone difference made it hard to talk on the phone. I knew she had many burdens. She was a mother of a young child. The photo below is one of my most favourite portraits that I’ve ever done.
While she was at a retreat, in hopes that she could heal from cancer, she sent me photos of her surroundings. There was one pic of a sticker on a door that said, “You are beautiful”. I thought that was something that people should see more often. Positive affirmations are a powerful thing in the mind. I decided to create a sticker that I could stick to packages I send out. I think people need to see more positive messages.
Not only is May, my birthday month, but it’s my favourite time of year for its seasonal blooms. It is as if everything springs back to life from the winter hibernation. The warm weather brings seemingly immediate growth to plants that laid quietly dormant from the winter months.
Though this time is exciting, I am currently feeling overwhelmed with so much that needs to be done in the garden, and life in general. It becomes an urgent priority to get seeds sown in, and shop for plants before the planting season ends. Canada’s growing season is limited, so one must make the most of the time when it comes.
These last few weeks have been occupied with going to plant nurseries and garden centres to find the best selection of plants for my garden. In addition, there is always something that needs attention in the garden, whether it is weeding, pruning, watering, planting, and of course harvesting. I also do research to make the most of what I am growing. This year, I have added sage, catnip, lavender, green perilla, and violas to my herb garden. I have also added in a mix of edible and wild flowers from some surprise variety seed packs. It will be interesting to see what comes from it.
I tried eating viola for the first time. Its fragrance is divine. I put one in a glass of water and I could smell it every time I took a sip. Then I ate the flower, and it was crisp. Its flavour was floral, grassy, and slightly peppery.
Last week, I was weeding our garden vegetable beds, and discovered a single violet plant, tucked away in a corner. I felt it was a blessing, as for several months now, I have been wishing for violet. I have never seen them in person, as they don’t seem common in my area. I even bought seeds to try to germinate them, though I heard they can be difficult, they will have to wait for autumn sowing. Perhaps it was P who brought me this, carrying its seed in the wind, hoping to create this “ocean of violets in bloom” that I dream of. I had been researching its medicinal properties and uses, and wanted to add it to my stock of herbal supplies.
I have a lot of things I need to do for my art projects and my shop, but I have to take the time out to work on my garden, which is the source of my shop inventory. I will be adding dried violas to my shop when I have gathered a lot. So a lot of things have to go on the back burner for now. Because as we all know, the blossoms don’t last forever. You just have to enjoy them while they’re there.
I never thought I’d wear Crocs, but here we are, they make them in Lavender color, the only color I’d wear them in. Perfect for gardening, an anti-fashion fashion statement.
Monet is one of my favourite painters, he created his works in his garden, the source of the subject matter for most of his famous works. I hope to have something like that in the future for myself.
Ever since 2016, after Prince’s passing, I’ve noticed snow in April. This year was no exception. It snowed here on Easier Monday. I heard that this year was supposed to be an early spring according to the groundhog, but it doesn’t feel like it to me…
I’ve continued to record EVP, though I’ve been busy with my work. I get the sense that he is content, where he is. I think that people’s feelings on the other side is very transparent. And sometimes I hear them say things like “You are happy”, or “Prince happy”. Where he is at, it is a joyful existence, filled with friends, foodie treats, and lots of fun.
I’ve been avoiding Facebook in the past year, it has been where the place where I get most Prince related news. So I don’t always know what is going on, as I just don’t pay attention to FB anymore, But recently, I could remember one time thinking to myself, wishing that there was some kind of video recording of Prince when he was a kid. I wondered if there was any chance that such a thing existed. I wanted to hear his kid voice. And then one day, I went onto my FB feed and scrolled. A news article about a news station finding a recording of P from when he was about eleven years old. I felt like my wish had come true. But when I looked at the date of the news release, it made me realize that perhaps when I was having those wishful thoughts, it was actually him telling me about this thing, and I just misunderstood thinking it was my thoughts. Telepathy is funny like that. A similar thing happened when the Prince Estate released a collection of face masks for covid. I literally saw the designs in my head, and they were released in an announcement shortly after, exactly what I saw! What a trippy feeling!
I can’t wait until it is finally warm enough to start working in the garden again. I’ve been planning out the garden in my mind and looking for seeds. I’m thinking about a bed of sweet violets, how the smell would be glorious in bloom.
Now that’s it’s been six years since his passing. It feels like a long time ago, because the world is such a different place now. What I wouldn’t give to be in a more innocent world… There are going to be more difficult times ahead for many people. My hope is that people make things right in their lives before it’s too late.
Prince lived his life fully. He accomplished many things with the time that he had. And I know, he left this world knowing that there was more he would have liked to do. But for the most part, he had pursued all his interests to a level of personal satisfaction. Not many people can say that. His dear friend, Lenny Kravitz said that about himself in an interview mentioning Prince. For myself, I am doing that. I am revisiting interests, making right of things that I did wrong, salvaging projects that I didn’t finish, pursuing interests with a renewed perspective and confidence. Accomplishing and doing things that my younger self would not have dared to try. I am happy doing these things, and I know I will one day leave this world feeling fulfilled and grateful for all I had gotten to experience.
I hope you are all doing well, staying sae out there in this world.
For the past few months, I have been working on a collection of individually printed silk scarves. I’ve been experimenting with a process involving light activated dyes and film negatives. If you are interested in any of the items, they are for sale on my Etsy page. They are all one of a kind and unique (like a snowflake), never exactly the same as each other, not even the colour.
It took me quite some time learning to work with these dyes. A lot of testing was needed, as you do not know what colour is going to turn out until the final wash. When the dyes are applied, they are almost colourless.The colour develops as the dye is exposed to light. Film negatives are laid out on the fabric to create a resist against the light. After the exposure is complete, the fabric is washed to remove excess dye.
This process I’m working with has me excited. I’m looking forward to the spring when the peonies in my garden will be in bloom. I’d like to make a peony print.
I have some exciting new EVP recordings. I’ve been trying out more of the EVP Maker software. The software allows yo to import a wave file containing voice samples, so that it can produce a randomized sound stream. This way, if there is any EVP, it will sound like the person’s voice from when they were living. I’m finding its results to be very hit or miss. But when it’s a hit, it’s really incredible stuff. So it’s worth trying, even if those sessions that don’t work out, maybe the next one will. I think they are learning to maneuver the process. It’s a learning curve for all of us.
Prince with his camera, source not known.
I know P loved doing photography as a hobby, and he still loves it. I hope one day his personal photography from his life will be published. I was hoping to see more of it in his memoir, but that didn’t happen. As you know, we both love photography, and we both have the camera lenses to prove it!
In a recording session, I caught him talking to someone about his new camera, and then taking the guy’s photo, and then even printing it out! I am really stunned. I even heard what sounds like a camera shutter going off in the background as he was taking photos. I have a hard time imagining what it looks like over there, but hearing the sounds from over there is fascinating. I imagine that one day when we meet, he is going to show me his many volumes of photo albums.
P said, “I got a new camera”.
“Goes on the tripod. This one got at Henry’s”. Henry’s is a chain of camera stores in Canada. Did he go shopping there without me, I wonder? Or did he get it when I was there to buy a new printer last year?
“Let me take your portrait”.
“Let’s print that one”.
“Let me test print”.
“The main drums, it makes a great image”. I really wonder what he meant by this. Maybe he took a photo with his drums?
I’m really glad to know that he gets to do the things he enjoys over there. I’m just in awe that I get to hear about it.
Self-portrait, 2018.
Here are a compilation of random clips I caught.
“Andrea”.
“Sleeping, wake up”.
“I am Prince”.
“Warning, vaccine”.
“All these complications”.
“Good bye”.
I will definitely keep trying more recording sessions with the EVP Maker. I wonder why some sessions are better than others.
P/S I’m not posting on social media any more. In protest of censorship, I will no longer participate. If you want updates sent to your inbox, then you can subscribe to my blog feed by email. Sign up at the bottom menu on the right corner of this page.
These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 along with EVP Maker 2.5, on September 26, 2021.
Image above: “Prince Sun” by Andrea Mai. Available here.
Today is Prince’s five-year anniversary since his passing. Ever since that year, I’ve noticed snow in April. Like the title of his song, Sometimes it Snows in April. It was never like that before, here in Toronto. And this year, I woke up to a yard full of snow. It was a strong reminder to me that he is here with me.
I decided to go out for a morning walk, and I took my camera with me.
Five years seems like a long time ago. So much has happened since. The world is really a different place now. It’s weird, it’s like become less innocent. I feel nostalgic for simpler times, preferably the 2000’s. When we still bought music on CD, and people didn’t rely on social media to communicate. People seemed nicer back then. More civilized.
Later in the day, I made this piece of artwork in his honor. I experimented with some new materialsI recently acquired, making this UV print with some lace and a necklace of his symbol.
Some time ago, I was experimenting with animating my photographs using video editing software. I recently learned how to turn them in GIFs. And since then, I’e been looking at my body of work from a new perspective. I’m excited. Photo animation opens up new possibilities for how my photography can be presented as an artwork. The pandemic has been hard on my photography, as we are all being stuck at home all the time. For me as an artist, I am inspired by being in different places.
With all the hype in the news about Bitcoin and crypto currencies, I have learned something exciting. It felt as though I had just woken up from a coma. Everyone is now talking about Bitcoin, but they’re also talking about Ethereum, which I had never heard of before. Ethereum came about years after Bitcoin, and it was designed differently in that Smart Contracts can be built into the blockchain. This means when a piece of the blockchain has transferred ownership, there can be additional actions built in, such as commissions. What does this all mean, and why does it matter? For the first time in history, blockchain technology has offered a means to register an asset onto a decentralized public ledger. This protocol could be used for commercial applications like verifying authenticity, or to execute automated contracts like commissions on sales.
In the art world, authenticity of an artwork by a master has always been in question, as works can turn out to be counterfeits. And after an artwork is sold, it is generally the case that it is the collectors and auction houses that take all the profits in its future sale, not the artist. Blockchain technology offers an innovative solution to this age old problem. Artists can “tokenize” their works on a blockchain, like Ethereum, and program a Smart Contract to receive commissions if the token is sold in the future. A token is that piece of the blockchain that the artwork is registered to, and it acts like a public receipt that proves ownership. It is kind of like the deeds to a piece of land, though it is not the land itself, it is a legal representation of it, and when you sell it, the deeds have to be transferred to the new owner. The deeds is the proof of ownership registered in the government’s land registry.
This also solves an issue for digital artworks that tend to live on the internet, like animation and video. It could even apply to music. I can very much see this as being something major i the future of art, and I am excited to learn and participate in it as an early adopter. I have just added a new page on my website to explain a bit more about Crypto Art, the term being used to describe artworks that are tokenized. I have some of my animated photos there and will be posting more as I create them. The crypto art scene seems to like hanging out on Twitter, so if you want to join me there, come follow me at @AndreaMaiArt
I’ve been so busy here, filling orders for face masks. The days seem to melt together and I wake up confused about what day it is. One morning, I woke p from a dream where I was in a car, travelling through a tunnel, and there were theses raised sidewalks along the tunnel walls, there were racks of clothes for sale, like a street market, there were signs that said 11-11. When we reached the end of the tunnel, we were in a major city, perhaps New York. I honestly don’t know what this dream could mean, But that morning happened to be on the morning of May 11th.
I try to fill the orders as quickly as I can, because I know that these are people on the other end, waiting desperately for masks. I feel honoured that people choose to buy from me, and that I am able to offer up my skills for a worthwhile cause at this time. The struggle is real though. Most people will have no idea what a task it’s been to acquire supplies during corona lockdown. Trying to purchase fine quality fabrics; Shopping online, I’ll put things in my cart, but by the time I am ready to check out, items will be sold out. Elastics: I’ve attempted to purchase on five different occasions. Items do not arrive as expected, and I am having to keep searching for other suppliers that can deliver faster. I am having to pay for shipping and inflated prices for things that are normally not that highly valued.
I have not had time to review EVP very much lately. But I am still recording. It is only today that I did not have so many orders, that I can make this post. I got some interesting EVP clips while I was outside walking to the mailbox.
These clips are recorded outside, so they are not necessarily the best sound quality. But I have tested them on my laptop speakers and I can hear them without headphones just fine. They are repeated on loop.
Here, someone says, “Quarantine”. I wonder the the spirits are thinking about this pandemic? Especially after so many deaths have occurred in such short time…
Here is P saying “Hello”.
Someone offered P an orange, “Want an orange”. I have heard him being offered an orange before, while we were walking. I wonder if it is the same person?
P accepted, and he said, “Here you go, Prince”.
Someone asked, “How’s it going?”. P replied, “Gotta mail the masks”.
Someone said, “Look, there’s an angel“. I assume it’s one from my group. I have a group of angels that stay with us, and follow us for our protection. Every night I pray to God to give thanks for them.
There hasn’t been much time for me to work on my art photography as of late. But occasionally I do get a shot in here and there, when I see something that catches my eye. I took these photos of the cement moon, one evening while walking to the mailbox. In this one, you can see a bird flying.
